Inflation Rate Decreases To 15.60 Percent In January As Kogi State Leads In Food Inflation With 22.61 Percent, NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Tuesday announced that the inflation rate for the month of January, 2022, stood at 15.60 percent, indicating a slight reduction of 0.03 percent against 15.63 percent recorded in December, 2021.

The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Simon B. Harry, who announced this, however, expressed apprehension while answering questions from Journalists that the current fuel scarcity may cause a spike in inflation rate in the month of February.

He noted that the fuel scarcity will have multiplier effects in increase in transport fares and other prices of goods and services.

According to Dr. Barry, “When there is fuel crisis, just as we’re having now it create an artificial shock in the economy. And so that shock is capable of shifting the economy. And whether we like it or not, you will discover that transporters will be taking advantage of the situation and thereby increasing the costs of transportation and as the cost of transportation increases so is every key commodity in the market.

“So that gives us a negative signal that it is capable of affecting not just inflation rate, but also other macro economy variables so that the gross domestic product and indeed even the unemployment rate because so many businesses particularly as an economy that is currently being driven by the private sector, it is discovered that as a result of the shock a good number of private businesses may not be able to run effectively as expected.

“Well, let me not be quick to say this is how the numbers will be. We are still collecting the numbers and by third or fourth week of the month, or we will be done with the collection. But I can assure you that somehow certainly is not the best for the economy.

The Statistician General further said that henceforth, the Bureau will not only be dwelling on Consumer Price Index (CPI), but will expand its scope of operation by making explanations on the state of the economy, relationship of the Gross Domestic Product with current inflation trend, unemployment rate, poverty rate, exchange rate, among other economic parameters.

Saying that the Bureau will be releasing information on these on quarterly basis to enable Nigerians to know the direction of the economy, Dr. Barry said: “Certainly this provides better information than just target on one variable, one after the other. Because we want a situation whereby we provide an exposition as to how does the inflation rate affect exchange rate, how does the inflation affect interest rate and so on and so on.

“So almost no variable is standing alone to some larger extent. One variable has an influence on the other. So I would like to present those kinds of relationships so that the Nigerians will be able to understand where and how the economy performs.

Further analysis of the Consumer Price Index, showed that On State – by – State comparison, all items inflation on year-on- year basis was highest in Abuja with 18.59% followed by Kogi state with 18.28% and Bauchi, 17.61% while on the other hand, Kwara recorded the lowest with 12.94% followed by Niger with 14.10% and Oyo, 14.19%;

Also, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi with 22.61% followed by Enugu with 19.84% and Akwa-Ibom (19.67%), while Sokoto had 14.18%, Bauchi (14.63%) and Kaduna (15.01%) as the lowest in January 2022.